Wheeled automotive vehicles frequently travel within defined lanes of a roadway, generally based on steering by an operator (driver) of the vehicle. Some vehicles are equipped with lane departure warning (LDW) systems that are designed to provide a warning indication if the vehicle departs from an identified lane of the roadway. In response to the warning, the driver of the vehicle may steer the vehicle back into the appropriate lane. Currently proposed lane departure warning systems typically include optical systems having one or more cameras configured to capture images of the roadway and to process the images to identify lane markings, such as painted lines, on the roadway. Conventional optical lane departure warning systems generally suffer during low light conditions and when lane markings are not clearly visible.
It is therefore desirable to provide for a lane departure warning system for a vehicle that does not suffer drawbacks of low light conditions and poor performance when lane markings are not clearly visible. It is further desirable to provide for a lane departure warning system for a vehicle that is easy to implement and cost affordable.